Method of making a carbon cleaning brush



Aug. 30, 1932. R. w. ELLINGHAM METHOD OF MAKING A CARBON CLEANING BRUSH Filed Hay 5, 1950 Z l I jiu/ 7.04m. 9

Patented Aug. 30, 1932 narran; stares PATENT oFFicE i ROBERT W. ELLNGHAM, 0F SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO FLEMING CHUSETTS ASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSA- METHOD OF MAKING A CARBON CLEANING :BRUSH applicants inea nay 5, 1930. seran No. 449,779.

" clamped in the chuclr of a portable power driven tool as an electric drill whereby the brush is given a high speed rotary motion causing it to operate with the maximuniof eciency for the accomplishment of the purpose in hand. I

Brushes used for this purpose are subjected to exceedingly hard and destructive wear, and up to the present time, in order to have them sufficiently substantial to resist for a reasonable length of time the wearv to which they are subjected, it has been found necessary to make them of very substantial and expensive construction.

The object of the present invention is to devise a brush for this purpose which is sufficiently rigid and substantial to resist the wear to which will be subjected in use, and which can be produced in large quantities at a very moderate cost.

Vhile the improved structure is an important feature of the invention, the method of making the brushes is of equal interest. A brush embodying the features of the invention and the various parts thereof illustrating the different stages of manufacture in the practice of the method of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing.

n the drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevation of the brush shown on an enlarged scale.

Figure 2 is a vertical central section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 on the same scale.

Figure 3 is a section corresponding to Figure 2 showing the cup on a smaller scale and in an initial stage of construction.

Figure 4 is a section in the same plane as Figure 3 showing the cup complete and ready to receive the wires.

Figure 5 is a similar section showing the cup with the wires in place but prior to securing them.

' Figure 6 is an elevation of the plug which holds the wires.

Referring to the drawing by numerals, each of which is used to indicate the same or similar parts in the different figures, the carbon cleaning rotary brush structure as shown particularly in Figures 1 and 2 consists of a. metallic cup 1, having the peripheral edges 2 surrounding the opening depending. This cup thus placed has a threaded hole 3 in the wall d which may be termed the bottom of the cup and which in the inverted position of the cup is the top wall, the opening being surrounded by a depending cylindrical flange 5, which extends into the inside of the cup and is internally threaded at 6. The depending cylindrical flange 5 is in the preferred form supported and enclosed by a flat washer 7 having a central opening at 8, surrounding and enclosing the cylindrical flange 5, the washer being of a thickness substantially equal to the width of the flange 5. This washer 7 fills the end of the cup surrounding the flange and serves as a stiifener for this portion of the brush body 16, the washer 7 lit-ting snugly in place. The brush fibres 9 which'are preferably of spring wire are located with their ends 11 comprising almost half the length of the wires in the cup 1,

parallel to the axis and arranged along the peripheral walls 12 of the cup. The wires are held in position in the cup in the preferred form of the invention by means of a plug 14, having a body portion 15, which is preferably of circular cross section and substantially cylindrical, and a tapered end portion 16, which serves to lead the plugas it is introduced into the cup in the center of the bristles which are forced outwardly by the plug, the latter being preferably hollow as show-n. In the finished brush the wires or bristles are contained in the annular portion 17 between the outer surface of the body por- .-f

,the peripheral edge 2 of the cup is turned inward slightly at 18 to assist in holding the bristles in position. I.

i as

In the production of the brush in accordance with the method of the invention, the cup 1 is formed of sheet metal with the hole 3 punched therein whereby the cylindrical flange is turned up inside the cup. The hole including the inside of lthe flange .is then threaded at 6.V The fiat washer C is next inserted in the cup and forced into the upperend, the opening in the washer at 8 fitting closely around the cylindrical flanged portion 5. The washer itself preferably fits the inside of the closed end of the cup so that it acts as a stiii'eneiz Then the wire fibres or wires 9 are inserted in the cup which is deep enough to receii'e their ends for almost half'the length of these members 9. The wires are preferably tied in bundles (see at 20'y in Figure 5) ,and arranged along the inside of the cylindrical walls of the cup, providing for J:he entrance of the plug 14, which is thenforced up in the cup at the center inside of the wires pressing them outward tight- YlIy against the cylindrical 'wa-ll of the cup.

he peripheral edge 2of the cup is then preferably spun inwardly as indica-ted vat 18, whereby the Wires are held tightly between the plug and the cup, the upper ends of the Wires 9 at 2'1 being deflected and spread over the pointed end of the plug, and thereby tightly retained, thesprea-d of the wires above the plug contributing tov the effect of the pressure at the periphery of the cup at 2, and tothe holding action resulting from the confinement of the wires or wire bristles 9 between the walls of the cup and the cylindrical portion 15 of the plug at 22.

The spindleV or shank 24 which` is threaded at its lower end and provided with a flange or shoulder 25 above the thread is then screwed into the threaded hole 3 in the cup, affording arigid connection whereby the brush may .be mounted in the chuck of a portable drill or other power driven rotary tool, providing an exceedingly efficient method of operating the brush at ahigh speed for the removal of carbon and for similar purposes.

This method of construction gives an ex' tremely rigid brush which can be produced in large quantities at a very moderate cost, andthe brush thus manufactured resists for a long period' the exceedingly hard wear to which it is subjected in operation. This luse has, among other things, a strong tendency to pull out and remove the wires, and this tendency is most eiliciently resisted in the construction shown and described. Also, the driving spindle or shankk is easily replaced or transferred from one brush body to another, being at the same time rigidly mounted. I have thus described specificallyl and in det-ail a brush for carbon cleaning and for similar purposes, and the method of Aproducing the same-the description being specific and in detail in order that the manner of constructing, operating and applying the invention in the preferred form may be fully understood. However, the specific terms herein are used in a descriptive, rather than in a limiting sense-the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. The method of making a wire or similar brush' which consists in forming a metal cup, punching aj hole inthe center of the bottom ofthe cup andr then forming an inwardly projecting fla-nge around the hole, forcing a -a reinforcing member in the bottom of the cup surrounding the hole, placing brush fibres inthe cup arranging them along the walls of the cup, and forcing a plug into the center of theA cupY whereby 'the fibres are pressed against the walls of the cup, and turn ing the peripheral edges of the cup inwardly against the bristles and securing a spindle in said hole.

Signed by me at Worcester, Mass., this 25th day of April, 1930.

ROBERT W. ELLINGHAM. 

